There’s an old joke about Andy Burnham that has been recycled since he started making eyes at No. 10. A Blairite, a Brownite, a Milibandite, a Starmerite, an insider and an outsider walk into a bar. The barman asks: ‘What are you having, Andy?’

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It might not be that funny but it’s a direct hit as a piece of political analysis, because there have been few more transparent examples of political shape-shifters than the current mayor of Greater Manchester. It’s not so much that he says one thing then does another – although there are plenty of examples of that – but rather that, over the course of his quarter-of-a-century-long political career (he was first elected to the Commons in 2001) Burnham has said whatever he considered would be political useful for him at the time, and when that usefulness changed, so would his view. 

As one former close colleague of his told me years ago, the only thing worth knowing about Burnham is that he has no real views. He has zero interest in ideas and even fewer principles, but a strong interest in the business of being a politician, and how he can advance the cause of Andy Burnham. Understand that and you understand the man.

Two years ago, for example, Burnham made an unambiguous promise to the voters of Greater Manchester. Pressed specifically on the idea that he might choose at some point to run for parliament, he said he was ‘committed to my third term, absolutely’. So committed, it seems, that the moment........

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